I recently confessed that I was starting to come around on Kristen Stewart. I have never particularly cared for her in the Twilight series, but I'm liking her more and more now that she's moving on from the franchise.

HOWEVER. While I'm beginning to tentatively agree with the rest of her rabid fanbase that Stewart may in fact be more talented and interesting than I originally gave her credit for, I don't think I'm quite ready for the news that according to Forbes, she is officially the highest-paid actress in Hollywood.

She beat out Meryl Streep, people. Of course, she also beat out Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Aniston, so clearly this sort of list isn't necessarily an indicator of acting ability, but STILL.

I guess it seems obvious that Kristen Stewart would be a hot financial commodity, given the fact that she's been starring in one of the biggest blockbuster series of all time, but I'm still sort of blown away that she's at the very top of the list. At just 22 years old, she earned more between May 2011-May 21012 than Forbes list regulars Cameron Diaz, Sandra Bullock, Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Julia Roberts, Sarah Jessica Parker, Meryl Streep, and Jennifer Aniston.

Apparently Stewart is a hell of a smart cookie when it comes to capitalizing on her irreplaceable status as Bella Swan, because she reportedly demanded (and received) $12.5 million for both of the last two Twilight films, as well as a chunk of the profits. Her most recent film hasn't exactly been a box office bomb, either -- Snow White and the Huntsman raked in more than $123 million at the box office in under three weeks.

Pretty amazing, really. Regardless of what you think of her performance as Bella (to my eyes, her repertoire mostly includes lots of lower lip licking/biting and frowning), Kristen Stewart's success as a movie star is fairly undeniable.

The interesting thing about being in this sort of salary bracket is that she's now faced with a couple of options as an actress. She can either continue to try and make tons of cash by taking lucrative-but-shitty roles (see also: Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker), or she can use her wealth as a cushion that allows her to gamble on riskier, more rewarding movies.

Personally, I hope she goes with Option #2, because I think she's got plenty of potential. And now that she's got all these millions, she can probably hire an acting coach to help with that lip biting:

Are you surprised that Kristen Stewart is the highest-paid actress in Hollywood right now?